‘Revolution’ : So why make it harder?

These are faces that say, ‘We’re so much better than this show, amirite?’ (NBC)

Six steps is all it takes for the camp commander to travel from the 19th century to the 21st. Six steps from his tent to the silver Airstream trailer. He enters and takes a seat in front of the joystick. His partner is already at the controls next to him. He never thought he’d be doing this again. He never wanted to. Moments later the drones are in the sky.

Aaron is still sitting by the now dead fire obsessing over his mysterious maybe role in the Blackout. Juliet snarks that this is exactly why she didn’t want to tell him. Hee! She doesn’t understand why he’s in the book either, but she thinks Ben knew something. She muses that Ben always kept Aaron close, no matter where they moved or what they did. He could have given the Pyramid Pendant of Power to anyone, but he chose Aaron. The whole thing creeps Aaron out so he decides it’s time to get moving. He attempts to scoop Juliet up and she cries out, her whole body trembling in pain. She finally realizes that Aaron really, truly, no fooling isn’t going to leave her behind. She pulls the nanocapsule out of her pack. It probably won’t work, and will probably get them both killed, but if Aaron is going to be stupid and stubborn they have to at least try.

Miles wakes up to find Nora hastily dressing. “You gonna leave a twenty on the nightstand? You’re making me feel cheap.” She sadly shakes her head. The sexy times were a mistake. “Odds are, one of us is going to watch the other one die. So why make it harder?” So, cheap and hopeless. Good morning! Neville tries to goad Nason into shooting him, and scene. Charlie follows Nason into an alley so they can have feelings about their respective terrible parents. She hears the drones first. Hears the high pitched scream and then the shadow zips over them. Charlie takes off at a run into the watch tower and rings the bell. Nora raises the second alarm. Incoming. And then the whole world explodes.

Seven years after the Blackout, Juliet walked into Miles’ camp. His invitation may have been for Ben, but she was project lead. She knew as much, if not more, than he did. “Ben has no interest in turning the lights back on. I do.” Miles was all like, that’s nice, we’re going to go get Ben anyway.

The memory fades as Miles comes to. At first all he can hear is the ringing in his ears. It resolves into screams and shouted orders and cries for help. He had 300 men before the drone strike. Now he has 30 and ground troops are moving in to finish those off. Miles orders a retreat of anyone who can walk. The rest are on their own. He’s going after Charlie. Nora comes with him, and after a beat, Neville joins them. Lady MacNeville will never forgive him if he lets Nason die alone. Militia soldiers save them the trouble of finding him. Nason is broken and bloody but conscious. He tells them that the lookout tower collapsed. Charlie was inside. He tried to dig her out, but then the militia was everywhere. He knows he can’t get past them. Just leave him a gun. Neville quietly tells Miles and Nora to go. He’ll get Nason clear, whether his son wants his help or not. “I know what kind of man I am. I have done every bad thing in the good book. I don’t care if you’re the devil himself, everyone draws a line somewhere and leaving my only son to die alone … I guess that’s where I draw the line.”

Miles thinks about where his line used to be. Ben and the children were long gone by the time his detachment reached their little cabin. Juliet didn’t know where they were. She didn’t know if she would ever see them again, but it was worth it, to keep them safe from Miles. “You think that we haven’t heard the stories? General Matheson, the Butcher of Baltimore. You think that we’re going to give you the ability to kill more people? You are a monster. We are ashamed to call you one of our family.” Miles caught Juliet by the throat and backed her up against the wagon. That’s not what she used to say about him … Did she think she could just bat her eyes at him and he would roll over? Take her away instead of Ben? Juliet was all, yeah kinda maybe? Miles let the mask slip. He admitted that he cared for her. He always thought she felt the same way. Juliet called what they had a cheap and ugly fling. “And not a day goes by that I don’t regret it.” Juliet stared him down but flinched away when he raised his fist. He promised it wouldn’t be the only thing she was going to regret.

Juliet and Aaron tie up their horses outside of an old computer store. As Aaron cobbles together spare parts, Juliet explains that the capsule is first gen nanotech. It kept Danny alive. It can be reprogrammed to do almost anything. If it works, it will stitch bone and repair skin. If it doesn’t, it will cook them from the inside. Or ignite the air … “hard to say.” Aaron plugs the nanocapsule in and the jerryrigged computer whirrs to life. The camera switches to a POV from the room behind them, and you know there’s someone there. Maybe they should have at least tried to hide the horses. It takes only a few moments to complete the update. Juliet unwraps the bandage to reveal her gnarly and still open wound. She painfully slides along the floor until she’s flat on her back and the leg is stretched out. Aaron hesitates. Does she really think they’ll explode? Hee! Juliet grits at him to just do it. He slides the capsule into the break and Juliet starts full on screaming. Aaron watches as the bone and skin knit back together. It’s like the break never happened. That’s when the men who have been lurking in the back room break cover. Juliet and Aaron are coming with them.

The leader (who could be a distant Winchester cousin, they are still in Kansas) takes them to a settlement and leads them into his home. His son is bundled up on the sofa. He tells his wife that what he saw in the store was a miracle. He calls Juliet and Aaron healers. He explains that his son took a bad spill off a horse and cracked some ribs. Aaron begins mumbling and Juliet quickly steps in and takes the situation in hand. She sits down next to the boy and examines the ugly and angry bruise blooming across his side. She smiles that he reminds her of someone she once knew. The things boys will do for a girl … She tells the father that they’ll need to go back to the shop for a few things, but that yes. They can help. When they get back to the store, Aaron tries to find a way to explain what he’s about to do. He asks the man if he ever read any Michael Crichton. “Yeah, I used to work at Barnes and Noble.” Their book club is interrupted when Juliet clubs the man over the head with a fire extinguisher. It’s lovely that Aaron actually wants to help, but it’s too late for the kid. Aaron insists there’s still a chance. “What is the point of having power if we can’t at least try to help people??”

“What makes you think that I’m in it to help people?”

Juliet gets right up in Aaron’s face and speaks slowly so he doesn’t misunderstand. She wants power so Monroe’s enemies can wipe him off the map. “I want to kill the man who killed my son. That’s it.” Not going to lie, the colder and crazier Juliet gets, the more I like her.

In Philadelphia, Captain Jacobfer is as upbeat as Monroe is glum. The Republic is winning! The drones are mowing down their enemies and Miles is as good as dead. Jacobfer goes so far as to proclaim the war “in the bag”. He invites Monroe to come and have a celebratory drink with a few of the officers. it would mean a lot to them. When Monroe doesn’t respond, Jacobfer requests permission to speak as a friend. Monroe has worked for this moment. He should enjoy it. He shouldn’t be cooped up like some kind of recluse. “You’re not peeing in jars, are you?” HAH! Even Monroe has to smile at that. He finally gives in. One drink. They haven’t even made it to the street when the sniper begins firing. Monroe dives for cover as the men around him fall. All but Jacobfer, who is left out in the open.

They return to Monroe’s quarters as the city goes on lockdown. Jacobfer assures him that they’re questioning a dozen suspects. They’ll find the shooter. Monroe pours them each a drink and marvels that Jacobfer wasn’t hit. His would-be assassin has terrible aim but amazing timing. He was waiting right outside the bar. Jacobfer senses the shift in the room and attempts to leave. Monroe’s guards stop him. “You led me there. You were totally exposed and you didn’t get hit. What am I supposed to think?” That it was anyone other than the only friend Monroe has left in the world? The General paranoids that it wouldn’t be the first time a friend tried to kill him. Jacobfer rolls the dice and accuses Monroe of engineering his own betrayals with his unhinged brutality. Jacobfer paints himself as the wounded party. He stayed when everyone else left because he believed they were trying to make a better world. “You probably will take over the continent, but you’re going to do it alone and you’re going to suspect everybody around you, and friend, I wouldn’t wish that on my worst enemy.” Monroe thanks him for his candor and walks out of the room. He closes the door behind him and listens for the shot. Oh, come on! Seriously? Kripke better bring Pellegrino back as a hallucination. He can be the voice of Monroe’s crazy conscience! It makes perfect sense, especially once Miles learns that his assassin was a Georgian spy acting alone. Oopsie!

Miles and Nora pick their way toward the lookout tower, but are quickly pinned down in a fire fight. Shooting shooting shooting shooting. Shooting shooting some more. They debate options, with Nora voting to make a run for it. She knows it’s selfish and she’s sorry not sorry, but she doesn’t want to lose Miles too. She tells him again – she doesn’t want to watch him die. Miles refuses to leave Charlie for dead. “I did it to her mom. Not going to do it to her.” Nora pings on his use of ‘her mom’ and has a moment of irrational jealousy? Realizes that Charlie is the only family he has left? Either way, she takes off across the square drawing off fire and creating an opportunity for Charlie (who isn’t dead) to break cover. The two women take off in opposite directions. Miles thinks back to the tent. Juliet tied to a chair. If she thought that he cared about her, what they had, or that they were family, she was wrong. Because he didn’t – then. Now, Miles cares. He chooses Charlie. She flings herself into his arms and you know, early in the season I was pretty sure that Danny was Sebastian’s son. Now I’m beginning to wonder if Charlie isn’t Miles’ daughter.